The stairs to our basement are treacherous.  They’re too shallow, and they’re carpeted, and it’s easy to fall down them.  So whenever somebody goes down them for the first time, I always warn them to hold onto the handrail and to be careful.  Most adults tend to take this admonition seriously, but a lot of the kids that come over, and hang out in the family room (in the basement), don’t.  I’ll be in the living room and hear them galumphing down the stairs – full tilt boogie – and then the galumphing will turn into a thumping and sometimes a crash.  Ouch!  Can’t say as they weren’t warned.  I think everyone in our family has fallen down them at least once, some more than others, except for me.  Until yesterday…

Yup, I fell down the stairs yesterday.  My bare foot slipped on the too-shallow edge and down I went, complete with thumping.  I didn’t crash, however, cuz I was still holding onto the handrail.  I always hang onto the handrail.  So instead of a serious crash onto the concrete floor at the bottom, I just banged along for about a half-dozen stairs until my hand on the rail managed to get a firm enough grip to stop me.  Other than some bruises, a wrenched neck, almost-dislocated shoulder and twisted back, I’m fine.  Could’ve been worse, right?  :-)

Earlier in the week I had been thinking about falling, or maybe I should say, not falling.  In fact, I was praying about not falling.  Tony and I were staining a huge gazebo at a sports field and I was up on a two-tiered set of scaffolding, standing on a sawhorse on top of that to reach the ceiling.  Added to that were the 30 - 40 mph winds that we were battling.  Yeah, and I'm not real fond of heights, either. So I was praying.  Before going up there, I double-checked the locks on the wheels of the scaffolding, and when I got up there, I hung onto something at all times.  .

It wasn’t until after yesterday’s fall down the stairs that this weird analogous thought came to mind.  In my spiritual walk, it’s just as important for me to remember to be careful and hang onto something – Truth – to keep from falling down.  For a number of reasons that I won’t elaborate on, I’ve had a really hard week.  And it would have been easy for me to fall down in any number of ways:  my attitude, my words, my outlook, my faith, my level of compassion, the list goes on.  I’ll admit to stumbling more than once during the week, but I didn’t fall, cuz I was still holding onto Truth, the only thing that could keep me from falling.

The thing is, when we fall, it’s usually not just a matter of brushing the dirt off our knees and then walking off, even if it seems that way at first.  Today, my body hurts a lot more than it did yesterday.  I’ve got more aches and pains and now my balance is off as well, preventing me from doing some of the things I wanted to do today, for fear of tipping over!  These are the physical reminders of my very physical fall, but the same can be said when we fall spiritually.  There is often lingering pain, a period of time where we have to “get back” to where we were before we fell, and an upsetting of our equilibrium.  Who wants that?

So here's a reminder:  It can be treacherous out there; be careful and remember to hold on to Truth to keep you from falling!